> That's how the shell behaves.
Ok.
In this specific case, which is trying to run a program and failing from inside Emacs, I think it could be argued both ways: that it is more informative to know there's something a bit off in your PATH, or that it is irrelevant, because the relevant info is that the program couldn't be run.
I suppose the answer to "one way or the other" is "Yes, as long as it is consistently done in all platforms."