The N * (1535)S 11 coupling strength to the K + Λ channel, g N * (1535)ΛK + , is extracted from the latest and largest K + Λ photoproduction database by using an isobar model. It is found that the coupling is small. In term of the coupling ratio the best result is R ≡ |g N * (1535)ΛK + /g N * (1535)ηp | = 0.460 ± 0.172, much smaller than that obtained from the isobar analysis of the J/ψ decays, i.e., 1.3 ± 0.3, but consistent with the results of the unitary chiral approach of the same decay processes as well as the partial wave analysis of kaon photoproduction, i.e., R = 0.5 ∼ 0.7. The different results of R found here and in literature to date suggest that a more solid definition of the coupling constant, especially in the case of N * (1535)S 11 state, is urgently required, before a fair comparison can be made.