diff --git a/src/drf_yasg/management/commands/generate_swagger.py b/src/drf_yasg/management/commands/generate_swagger.py
index 18fd815..e4d3e8a 100644
--- a/src/drf_yasg/management/commands/generate_swagger.py
+++ b/src/drf_yasg/management/commands/generate_swagger.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from importlib import import_module
 
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
 from rest_framework.test import APIRequestFactory, force_authenticate
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         )
         parser.add_argument(
             '--user', dest='user',
-            default='',
             help='Username of an existing user to use for mocked authentication. This option implies --mock-request.'
         )
         parser.add_argument(
@@ -122,7 +121,11 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         api_url = api_url or swagger_settings.DEFAULT_API_URL
 
-        user = User.objects.get(username=user) if user else None
+        if user:
+            # Only call get_user_model if --user was passed in order to
+            # avoid crashing if auth is not configured in the project
+            user = get_user_model().objects.get(username=user)
+
         mock = mock or private or (user is not None)
         if mock and not api_url:
             raise ImproperlyConfigured(
diff --git a/tests/test_management.py b/tests/test_management.py
index 70bf6d9..7907c63 100644
--- a/tests/test_management.py
+++ b/tests/test_management.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from drf_yasg.generators import OpenAPISchemaGenerator
 
 
 def call_generate_swagger(output_file='-', overwrite=False, format='', api_url='',
-                          mock=False, user='', private=False, generator_class_name='', **kwargs):
+                          mock=False, user=None, private=False, generator_class_name='', **kwargs):
     out = StringIO()
     call_command(
         'generate_swagger', stdout=out,