diff --git a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
index 985335e..7b81157 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
@@ -1828,7 +1828,7 @@ public class JSONObject {
             }
         }
         JSONPropertyName annotation = getAnnotation(method, JSONPropertyName.class);
-        if (annotation != null && annotation.value() != null && !annotation.value().isEmpty()) {
+        if (annotationValueNotEmpty(annotation)) {
             return annotation.value();
         }
         String key;
@@ -1854,6 +1854,15 @@ public class JSONObject {
         return key;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * checks if the annotation is not null and the {@link JSONPropertyName#value()} is not null and is not empty.
+     * @param annotation the annotation to check
+     * @return true if the annotation and the value is not null and not empty, false otherwise.
+     */
+    private static boolean annotationValueNotEmpty(JSONPropertyName annotation) {
+        return annotation != null && annotation.value() != null && !annotation.value().isEmpty();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Checks if the method is valid for the {@link #populateMap(Object, Set, JSONParserConfiguration)} use case
      * @param method the Method to check