diff --git a/src/app/core/data/search-response-parsing.service.ts b/src/app/core/data/search-response-parsing.service.ts
index 707875911d..c7456aa2f9 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/search-response-parsing.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/search-response-parsing.service.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export class SearchResponseParsingService implements ResponseParsingService {
             value: hhObject[key].join('...')
           }))
         } else {
-          return undefined;
+          return [];
         }
       });
 
diff --git a/src/app/shared/object-list/search-result-list-element/search-result-list-element.component.ts b/src/app/shared/object-list/search-result-list-element/search-result-list-element.component.ts
index 31e31c72a8..fd821997ad 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/object-list/search-result-list-element/search-result-list-element.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/object-list/search-result-list-element/search-result-list-element.component.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 import { Component, Inject } from '@angular/core';
+import { Observable } from 'rxjs/Observable';
 
 import { SearchResult } from '../../../+search-page/search-result.model';
 import { DSpaceObject } from '../../../core/shared/dspace-object.model';
 import { Metadatum } from '../../../core/shared/metadatum.model';
-import { isEmpty, hasNoValue, isNotEmpty } from '../../empty.util';
+import { hasNoValue, isEmpty } from '../../empty.util';
 import { ListableObject } from '../../object-collection/shared/listable-object.model';
 import { AbstractListableElementComponent } from '../../object-collection/shared/object-collection-element/abstract-listable-element.component';
-import { Observable } from 'rxjs/Observable';
 import { TruncatableService } from '../../truncatable/truncatable.service';
 
 @Component({
@@ -24,15 +24,13 @@ export class SearchResultListElementComponent<T extends SearchResult<K>, K exten
 
   getValues(keys: string[]): string[] {
     const results: string[] = new Array<string>();
-    if (isNotEmpty(this.object.hitHighlights)) {
-      this.object.hitHighlights.forEach(
-        (md: Metadatum) => {
-          if (keys.indexOf(md.key) > -1) {
-            results.push(md.value);
-          }
+    this.object.hitHighlights.forEach(
+      (md: Metadatum) => {
+        if (keys.indexOf(md.key) > -1) {
+          results.push(md.value);
         }
-      );
-    }
+      }
+    );
     if (isEmpty(results)) {
       this.dso.filterMetadata(keys).forEach(
         (md: Metadatum) => {
@@ -45,16 +43,14 @@ export class SearchResultListElementComponent<T extends SearchResult<K>, K exten
 
   getFirstValue(key: string): string {
     let result: string;
-    if (isNotEmpty(this.object.hitHighlights)) {
-      this.object.hitHighlights.some(
-        (md: Metadatum) => {
-          if (key === md.key) {
-            result = md.value;
-            return true;
-          }
+    this.object.hitHighlights.some(
+      (md: Metadatum) => {
+        if (key === md.key) {
+          result = md.value;
+          return true;
         }
-      );
-    }
+      }
+    );
     if (hasNoValue(result)) {
       result = this.dso.findMetadata(key);
     }