diff -u b/config/install/config_ignore.settings.yml b/config/install/config_ignore.settings.yml
--- b/config/install/config_ignore.settings.yml
+++ b/config/install/config_ignore.settings.yml
@@ -2 +2 @@
-enable_export_filtering: ''
+enable_export_filtering: false
diff -u b/config/schema/config_ignore.schema.yml b/config/schema/config_ignore.schema.yml
--- b/config/schema/config_ignore.schema.yml
+++ b/config/schema/config_ignore.schema.yml
@@ -10,3 +10,3 @@
     enable_export_filtering:
-      type: string
+      type: boolean
       label: 'Enable export filtering'
diff -u b/src/Plugin/ConfigFilter/IgnoreFilter.php b/src/Plugin/ConfigFilter/IgnoreFilter.php
--- b/src/Plugin/ConfigFilter/IgnoreFilter.php
+++ b/src/Plugin/ConfigFilter/IgnoreFilter.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
     $container->get('module_handler')->invokeAll('config_ignore_settings_alter', [&$ignored]);
     // Set the list in the plugin configuration.
     $configuration['ignored'] = $ignored;
-    $configuration['enable_export_filtering'] = $container->get('config.factory')->get('config_ignore.settings')->get('enable_export_filtering');
+    $configuration['enable_export_filtering'] = (bool) $container->get('config.factory')->get('config_ignore.settings')->get('enable_export_filtering');
 
     return new static(
       $configuration,
@@ -218,20 +218,20 @@
     }
 
     $source = $this->source->read($name);
-    foreach ($keys as $key) {
-      $parts = explode('.', $key);
-
-      if (count($parts) == 1) {
-        if (isset($source[$key])) {
-          $data[$key] = $source[$key];
-        }
-      }
-      else {
-        $value = NestedArray::getValue($source, $parts, $key_exists);
-        if ($key_exists) {
-          // Enforce the value if it existed in the active config.
-          NestedArray::setValue($data, $parts, $value, TRUE);
-        }
+    if ($source !== FALSE) {
+      foreach ($keys as $key) {
+          $parts = explode('.', $key);
+
+          if (count($parts) == 1 && isset($source[$key])) {
+            $data[$key] = $source[$key];
+          }
+          else {
+            $value = NestedArray::getValue($source, $parts, $key_exists);
+            if ($key_exists) {
+              // Enforce the value if it existed in the active config.
+              NestedArray::setValue($data, $parts, $value, TRUE);
+            }
+          }
       }
     }