diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d608b39..57f59ff 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -833,7 +833,7 @@ endif ()
 if (H5_HAVE_PARALLEL)
   list (APPEND LINK_PUB_LIBS MPI::MPI_C)
   if (MPI_C_LINK_FLAGS)
-    set (CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${MPI_C_LINK_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS}")
+    string(JOIN " " CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS ${MPI_C_LINK_FLAGS} "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS}")
   endif ()
 endif ()