diff --git a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
index ba18600135..5b394d971b 100644
--- a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
+++ b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
@@ -182,13 +182,20 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
         cdef bint is_fp16 = False
 
         self._reset()
-        if (not isinstance(shape, (list, tuple))
-                and not hasattr(shape, 'tolist')):
-            try:
-                <Py_ssize_t> shape
-                shape = [shape, ]
-            except Exception:
-                raise TypeError("Argument shape must be a list or a tuple.")
+        if not isinstance(shape, (list, tuple)):
+            if hasattr(shape, 'tolist'):
+                fn = getattr(shape, 'tolist')
+                if callable(fn):
+                    shape = shape.tolist()
+            if not isinstance(shape, (list, tuple)):
+                try:
+                    <Py_ssize_t> shape
+                    shape = [shape, ]
+                except Exception as e:
+                    raise TypeError(
+                        "Argument shape must a non-negative integer, "
+			"or a list/tuple of such integers."
+                    ) from e
         nd = len(shape)
         if dtype is None:
             if isinstance(buffer, (dpmem._memory._Memory, usm_ndarray)):
diff --git a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
index 72f5aabebb..095bbc5638 100644
--- a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
+++ b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
         (2, 5, 2),
         (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2),
         5,
+        np.int32(7),
     ],
 )
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("usm_type", ["shared", "host", "device"])
diff --git a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_reductions.py b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_reductions.py
index cbfd6baec6..0969822e6d 100644
--- a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_reductions.py
+++ b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_reductions.py
@@ -175,9 +175,11 @@ def test_search_reduction_kernels(arg_dtype):
     q = get_queue_or_skip()
     skip_if_dtype_not_supported(arg_dtype, q)
 
-    x = dpt.ones((24 * 1025), dtype=arg_dtype, sycl_queue=q)
+    x_shape = (24, 1024)
+    x_size = np.prod(x_shape)
+    x = dpt.ones(x_size, dtype=arg_dtype, sycl_queue=q)
     idx = randrange(x.size)
-    idx_tup = np.unravel_index(idx, (24, 1025))
+    idx_tup = np.unravel_index(idx, x_shape)
     x[idx] = 2
 
     m = dpt.argmax(x)
@@ -194,7 +196,7 @@ def test_search_reduction_kernels(arg_dtype):
     m = dpt.argmax(y)
     assert m == 2 * idx
 
-    x = dpt.reshape(x, (24, 1025))
+    x = dpt.reshape(x, x_shape)
 
     x[idx_tup[0], :] = 3
     m = dpt.argmax(x, axis=0)
@@ -209,15 +211,15 @@ def test_search_reduction_kernels(arg_dtype):
     m = dpt.argmax(x, axis=1)
     assert dpt.all(m == idx)
 
-    x = dpt.ones((24 * 1025), dtype=arg_dtype, sycl_queue=q)
+    x = dpt.ones(x_size, dtype=arg_dtype, sycl_queue=q)
     idx = randrange(x.size)
-    idx_tup = np.unravel_index(idx, (24, 1025))
+    idx_tup = np.unravel_index(idx, x_shape)
     x[idx] = 0
 
     m = dpt.argmin(x)
     assert m == idx
 
-    x = dpt.reshape(x, (24, 1025))
+    x = dpt.reshape(x, x_shape)
 
     x[idx_tup[0], :] = -1
     m = dpt.argmin(x, axis=0)