I'm not sure, I think perfectionism is partly innate.
Lately, I've been wondering if it isn't a fundamental difference in the way gifted people see the world that makes so many of them perfectionists. I suspect that they're often comparing the real, material world to some abstract, ideal parallel reality--something along the lines of Plato's Forms or ideal states (Plato must have been the ultimate perfectionist!). I think heightened awareness of and preoccupation with how reality diverges from some abstract ideal manifests itself as perfectionism and also drives a lot of gifted people towards public interest work and truth and justice causes.
I think you're onto something there. I read a really good article about that somewhere and loved it, basically talking about the different types of perfectionism. I wish I could remember where I found it.