diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/python/numpy_to_arrow.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/python/numpy_to_arrow.cc
index a180e3a675ad0..2727ce32f4494 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/python/numpy_to_arrow.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/python/numpy_to_arrow.cc
@@ -404,8 +404,13 @@ class NumPyStridedConverter {
     ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(buffer_, AllocateBuffer(sizeof(T) * length_, pool_));
 
     const int64_t stride = PyArray_STRIDES(arr)[0];
-    if (stride % sizeof(T) == 0) {
-      const int64_t stride_elements = stride / sizeof(T);
+    // ARROW-16013: convert sizeof(T) to signed int64 first, otherwise dividing by it
+    // would do an unsigned division. This cannot be caught by tests without ubsan, since
+    // common signed overflow behavior and the fact that the sizeof(T) is currently always
+    // a power of two here cause CopyStridedNatural to still produce correct results
+    const int64_t element_size = sizeof(T);
+    if (stride % element_size == 0) {
+      const int64_t stride_elements = stride / element_size;
       CopyStridedNatural(reinterpret_cast<T*>(PyArray_DATA(arr)), length_,
                          stride_elements, reinterpret_cast<T*>(buffer_->mutable_data()));
     } else {