diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.test.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.test.ts
index 9fc55612fe..ba0402cb71 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.test.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.test.ts
@@ -194,12 +194,12 @@ describe('ref', () => {
       });
       expect(parseEntityRef('a:c')).toEqual({
         kind: 'a',
-        namespace: undefined,
+        namespace: 'default',
         name: 'c',
       });
       expect(parseEntityRef('c')).toEqual({
         kind: undefined,
-        namespace: undefined,
+        namespace: 'default',
         name: 'c',
       });
     });
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
index 850b11686f..3c77998eb8 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
@@ -171,11 +171,13 @@ export function parseEntityRef(
     throw new Error(`Entity reference must not be empty`);
   }
 
+  const defaultNamespace = context.defaultNamespace || DEFAULT_NAMESPACE;
+
   if (typeof ref === 'string') {
     const parsed = parseRefString(ref);
     return {
       kind: parsed.kind ?? context.defaultKind,
-      namespace: parsed.namespace ?? context.defaultNamespace,
+      namespace: parsed.namespace ?? defaultNamespace,
       name: parsed.name,
     };
   }
@@ -191,7 +193,7 @@ export function parseEntityRef(
 
   return {
     kind: kind ?? context.defaultKind,
-    namespace: namespace ?? context.defaultNamespace,
+    namespace: namespace ?? defaultNamespace,
     name,
   };
 }