diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
index 8257745f..a56d4d91 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend_tests.yml
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup sqlite
         if: matrix.database == 'sqlite'
         env:
-          SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_BPMN_SPEC_ABSOLUTE_DIR="${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/sample-process-models"
+          SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_BPMN_SPEC_ABSOLUTE_DIR: "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/sample-process-models"
         run: ./bin/recreate_db clean rmall
 
       - name: Setup Mysql