diff --git a/R/pkg/R/SQLContext.R b/R/pkg/R/SQLContext.R
index 399f53657a68c..2b431a71e6884 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/SQLContext.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/SQLContext.R
@@ -90,8 +90,6 @@ createDataFrame <- function(sqlContext, data, schema = NULL, samplingRatio = 1.0
       if (is.null(schema)) {
         schema <- names(data)
       }
-      n <- nrow(data)
-      m <- ncol(data)
       # get rid of factor type
       dropFactor <- function(x) {
         if (is.factor(x)) {
@@ -100,9 +98,7 @@ createDataFrame <- function(sqlContext, data, schema = NULL, samplingRatio = 1.0
           x
         }
       }
-      data <- lapply(1:n, function(i) {
-        lapply(1:m, function(j) { dropFactor(data[i,j]) })
-      })
+      data <- do.call(mapply, c(list, unname(lapply(data, dropFactor)), SIMPLIFY = FALSE))
   }
   if (is.list(data)) {
     sc <- callJStatic("org.apache.spark.sql.api.r.SQLUtils", "getJavaSparkContext", sqlContext)