diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_connection.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_connection.cc
index 142dac53ab6..e452008b27b 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_connection.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_connection.cc
@@ -465,9 +465,9 @@ void ODBCConnection::SetConnectAttr(SQLINTEGER attribute, SQLPOINTER value,
     case SQL_ATTR_CURRENT_CATALOG: {
       std::string catalog;
       if (is_unicode) {
-        SetAttributeUTF8(value, string_length, catalog);
-      } else {
         SetAttributeSQLWCHAR(value, string_length, catalog);
+      } else {
+        SetAttributeUTF8(value, string_length, catalog);
       }
       if (!spi_connection_->SetAttribute(Connection::CURRENT_CATALOG, catalog)) {
         throw DriverException("Option value changed.", "01S02");
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_descriptor.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_descriptor.cc
index 11e4512eb8d..d58d8b93ba0 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_descriptor.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/odbc_impl/odbc_descriptor.cc
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ void ODBCDescriptor::SetField(SQLSMALLINT record_number, SQLSMALLINT field_ident
       has_bindings_changed_ = true;
       break;
     case SQL_DESC_NAME:
-      SetAttributeUTF8(value, buffer_length, record.name);
+      SetAttributeSQLWCHAR(value, buffer_length, record.name);
       has_bindings_changed_ = true;
       break;
     case SQL_DESC_OCTET_LENGTH:
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/tests/connection_attr_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/tests/connection_attr_test.cc
index 65aadf1d8f9..63b55def911 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/tests/connection_attr_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/flight/sql/odbc/tests/connection_attr_test.cc
@@ -410,4 +410,23 @@ TYPED_TEST(ConnectionAttributeTest, TestSQLSetConnectAttrPacketSizeValid) {
 #endif
 }
 
+// A multi-character catalog set through the wide entry point must round-trip
+// intact.
+TYPED_TEST(ConnectionAttributeTest, TestSQLSetGetConnectAttrCurrentCatalogWide) {
+  ASSIGN_SQLWCHAR_ARR_AND_LEN(catalog, L"my_catalog");
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(SQL_SUCCESS, SQLSetConnectAttr(this->conn, SQL_ATTR_CURRENT_CATALOG, catalog,
+                                           catalog_len * GetSqlWCharSize()));
+
+  SQLWCHAR out_str[kOdbcBufferSize];
+  SQLINTEGER out_str_len;
+  ASSERT_EQ(SQL_SUCCESS, SQLGetConnectAttr(this->conn, SQL_ATTR_CURRENT_CATALOG, out_str,
+                                           kOdbcBufferSize, &out_str_len));
+  // SQLGetConnectAttr returns the length in bytes; convert to characters.
+  out_str_len /= GetSqlWCharSize();
+  std::string out_catalog =
+      ODBC::SqlWcharToString(out_str, static_cast<SQLSMALLINT>(out_str_len));
+  EXPECT_EQ("my_catalog", out_catalog);
+}
+
 }  // namespace arrow::flight::sql::odbc